Chapter 138 - Beginner Forging Part Three
Chapter 138 - Beginner Forging Part Three
After engraving her name into the letter opener, Kana smiled, holding it in her hand as if it was a precious treasure. Seeing Kana treating her first creation like that caused Old Gamm to smile. "Now everyone has seen the process. Each of you take a room and begin working on your own. Ring the bell in the room when you need assistance. I will come as soon as I can." After handing out instructions, he turned and stopped Kana from going to one of the rooms. "Lass, you stay here. You will work on something else this time. As I see it, you will be fine making your first weapon. We will make a small dagger. I will let you do one on your own first. Do not worry about the hilt for now. Just get the base done, and afterward, I will show you how to add a hilt to it."
Kana nodded and happily went over to the large box of metal scraps and began digging through it trying to pick the perfect piece out. After searching for a while, she picked a shiny bluish grey piece and held it in her hand. "Hmmm… This seems about right. So first, I need to heat this up…"
Kana took the tongs and placed the piece of metal in the forge. She then sat down and began using her foot to work the foot bellow to make the fire hotter. The flames in the forge roared as Kana continued to work the bellow. She noticed that the piece of metal she chose was taking more time to heat up and turn red. Although it was taking more time, it was slowly turning a bright red. After almost fifteen minutes, the metal became hot enough to begin forging the starting shape of her dagger. All that could be heard throughout the main hall was the sound of hammering from the forge Kana was working at.
Old Gamm was keeping a close eye on Kana's progress and was really impressed at how quickly she learned. He didn't even need to tell her that thicker pieces of metal will need to be heated multiple times before the first shape could be completed. Unlike these others who kept ringing the bell over and over.
While Kana was working, Dean Williams came walking into the forging building. He was quite surprised that Kana was on the main teaching forge working. But he could see why when he noticed that Old Gamm was running to and from between the rooms. As he passed by, he would pause to look at the water screens to check Kana's progress. But what surprised him the most was how well Kana was doing. The entire time he had been standing there watching, not once did Kana ask for help. But yet her dagger was slowly taking form. With nothing better to do and not wanting to disturb anyone, Dean Williams sat down on a bench in a cooled waiting room to watch the water screen of Kana's work.
"Okay… Now, I finally got the basic shape down, but the metal looks a bit odd… Maybe I should hammer it a bit more… Maybe I can get the color to blend better." Kana thought out loud as she rubbed her chin. The piece of metal she was holding had a rough dagger shape but was far from being finished. But the color was half grey and half blue. The grey was dull and looked very inferior, while the blue looked glossy and top grade. "Hmm… no… hammering it like it is will not blend it better. In order to make it blend, I will need to metl it all down and then hammer it…"
With this thought in mind, Kana went right to work. Dean William was confused as to what she was doing. But when he saw Old Gamm stop and look at the water screen and smile brightly before going to help the next student, Dean William knew that whatever Kana was doing must be correct.
Another hour went by, and a few students had finally created their very first work. They all held their letter openers in their hands and exited their forges. About twenty students stood outside the main forge watching the water screens as Kana worked. But the more they watched, the more confused they became. Kana kept shaping a dagger, then melting it down and hammering it back into a ball as if she was playing with bread dough. She had already done this process a few times.
"Master Gamm, what is Miss Kana doing?" One of the students finally asked.
"Hmmm? That Lass's name is Kana? Where have I heard that name before… Well, never mind. Anyway, what she is doing is a beginner's technique for blending low quality metal and high quality metal together. Sometimes when you get ore, it will be mixed with two qualities of metal. The scrap she picked out was a mix of these two kinds of metal. In order to blend them together, she is using what we forgers call the metal dough technique. It is used among beginner forgers to blend two types of metal. The surprising thing is that this Lass figured this out on her own. She has not asked for my help once. This is the difference between someone talented in forging and someone who is not. But fret not, it is also fine to ask questions when you are being taught like this. But it is also good to try to figure things out on your own. By doing so, you will start to form your own method of forging.
"As time goes on you will want to have your own forging methods that suit you better than following the methods of others. Only then will you be on your own path of forging." Old Gamm was very impressed with Kana's ability to see and try new things without asking for assistance. Even when he was young and first starting out he had asked his masters how to do this and that. It was only until he learned all the basics and began his own workshop did he start exploring his own methods of forging.